Chapter Text
February 1st, Wednesday
It was weekly dinner at the manor, and Jason didn’t show up. If he was going to miss, he would’ve messaged. That’s how it had been for almost a year, which meant something was wrong.
They were planning on asking Jason about the pit rage, but now something was wrong.
Dick knew his family would pry too far if they knew, so he let them know that Jason had messaged him that he was caught up and couldn’t make it.
As soon as dinner was over, he excused himself and took his civilian bike as fast as he could to Jay’s last known location. Which was his normal apartment.
He picked the lock on the front door, making sure the security wasn’t triggered when he entered, he wasn’t expecting to see most of the furniture scooted to one side of the living area, and the rest of it covered in more blankets and pillows than he knew Jason owned.
In the middle of it all, Jason, looking pale and clammy. Dick ran forward and pressed his hand to his brother’s forehead, he was burning up. Far hotter than was safe, his breathing was labored and he was sweating.
He shook him hard, “Jason, Jason wake up. Jay, we need to get you to a hospital…”
Jason came to, he looked around and his eyes filled with panic as he tried to speak through some kind of delirium.
“Dick, you… get out, before… nest,” Jason slurred his words between what he could understand, trying to push him away.
A snarl tore through the room, low growls, threatening pain and Dick turned to see Dante looking rabid, his teeth bared and every muscle on his face held venom in the way he looked at them.
“Dick,” Jason spoke a bit more clearly. “Need you to get out,” he grunted. Still trying to push him away.
“No, Dante’s gonna kill you like this!” Dick shrieked as he pulled out his collapsible baton, never getting to extend it as Jason ripped it from his grasp and shoved him as hard as he could. Focusing his words took more effort than he cared to admit.
“Out of the nest, Dick,” he shouted. Collapsing from where he’d been holding himself up.
Nest? What nest? He had to protect Jason from the wolf…
He looked back at Dante, his vision solely fixed on him. His posture was defensive and the way he was licking his teeth indicated stress of nerves, not that he was hungry.
(Bruce made them all read up on canine body language when Dante was still around after the first month.)
Jason said nest… he realized he meant the blankets covering the floor. He got up and scrambled out, moving away from the variable nest of bedding.
Dante stopped growling and rushed toward Jason, soft whines filled the room as the wolf helped Jason sit up and was licking him all over, cleaning the sweat from him.
Dick tried to move from his spot on the floor against the wall, but Dante’s head had snapped to him with a gaze that pinned him to where he was.
The wolf quickly turned his attention back to Jason.
“Cub, you’ve gotta shift,” Jason said after a bit. He sounded more lucid now.
Dante grunted, glancing at Dick with venom. Obviously, the wolf didn’t want Dick to know or see that.
At least he got the information on that.
Jason pulled his face back to him. “Have you seen the time?”
Dante’s ears went alert, he started pawing at the bag he’d dragged into the nest shortly after Dick had gotten out. A phone tumbled out, falling face down.
Jason rolled his eyes as Dante was obviously frustrated. “What time is it, Dickface?”
Dante’s eyes were on him as he slowly pulled his phone out and checked the time.
“Twenty past nine,” he said, turning his phone.
Jason turned back to Dante. “We checked the time for the start of the actual full moon, it was 9:28. Now Mr ‘I’m the physical manifestation of space’, how accurate are humans when calculating things like that?”
Dante pinned his ears, looking away.
“That's right. So I say you have about 2 minutes minimum before you’re stuck for at least the next two days till earth’s shadow hits the moon again. And your telepathy hasn’t worked since I got sick, and I would like to not succumb to the venom. So just this once, shift back while someone is watching, because I’m asking? And it’s for me?”
Dick’s breath hitched when Jason mentioned poison, he did his best to not move though.
Dante growled through a breath, licked at Jason’s face some more to clear the sweat and then began to shrink next to his brother.
Still covered near head to toe in black fur, his green eyes became more human, and they softened further as Jason reached up to cup his cheek.
“Thank you, Cub,” Jason said, his thumb brushing Dante’s skin and he leaned into it, holding the hand close to his face.
“Don’t take this as me ever going to shift in the field," Dante spoke, his voice still rough with a growl.
Dick thought back to all the times Dante had been injured and Jason was whispering, or begging. Those times made sense now.
“You’re as stubborn as me,” Jason shoved lightly at the other’s bare chest.
“You’ve gotta be pretty fucking stubborn to raise yourself from the dead out of spite, Jay.”
Dick flinched, his head hitting the wall just enough that one of Dante’s ears turned toward him. And his attention followed.
“And you,” He bared inhumanly long and sharp teeth and snarled. “Stay out of our nest. It took every ounce of control not to kill you for you being there in the first place.”
“And I really appreciate you exercising that control, Danny, but this is why I’ve been telling you we have to tell them something.”
Danny, not Dante, grabbed his bag and dragged it over to where Jason was, tucking himself against him and pulling three hand carved wooden boxes out of the bag with care as he set them down.
Then Dick remembered something from months ago, and couldn’t help but laugh.
“A wolf named after a cat’s pattern,” he said. He flinched, and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Sorry, bad timing.”
Danny’s lips pulled up slightly, his fangs still terrifying but his eyes lit up all the same.
“Please, for the love of the ancients, you called me Badla. It’s just suit in Arabic and I know it’s a callback to my patterns. But for all that I rule over, I hate cats. They’re sneaky bastards who really do get nine lives and they think themselves better than everyone else on most occasions. I blame the Egyptians, and Tucker as a whole for that. Very few even exist in the realms because they keep cheating death.”
Jason’s arm was around Danny’s shoulders, he gave a light chuckle and started scratching behind his ears. The tail, that Dick had somehow not noticed till now, started thumping lightly against the bedding on the floor.
Danny shook himself and batted Jason’s hands away from his ears, snarling with something sounding almost like pain as he spoke. “Do you want the antidote or not?” He didn’t look at Jason when he asked.
“Poisoned, Jay?” Dick still didn’t dare move from his spot, not so much as moving his head slightly.
Jason already looked done as he frowned, he put a finger to his lips, his eyes watching Danny intently.
Danny carefully opened the wooden boxes, certain herbs and liquids were set inside. He watched Danny’s fur shift more white than he’d seen before as a chalice of blue crystalline ice formed over his open palm.
Dick watched as certain vials and jars holding items he didn’t know floated out of the box. Danny’s hand made small, barely visible movements that had the contents of the glass lifting and moving out of their containers. Some went straight into the chalice, some of the herbs crushed themselves into powder before being added, most of the liquid went in without change, but one looked like it was boiling mid air before it froze solid in an instant.
The whole time, Danny’s eyes were on a tattered leather journal, the pages flipping on their own to various sections and pages rapidly.
Still focused on his task, Danny said ‘hand’ and Jason stuck his hand near Danny’s face, and much to Dick’s horror, bit viciously into his palm. Jason hissed at the pain, but didn’t seem phased otherwise.
“Hold the chalice's stem, where I bit you. Not a drop in the drink.”
Jason did as he said and took the chalice, the blood filled what looked like runes all over the ice. Danny finally looked away from the book, and plucked the boiled iced liquid from the air before biting hard into his own hand and then fisting the strange ice cube. He held his hand over the chalice and dark purple blood dripped from his hand as he clenched it.
After what felt forever, he pulled his hand back and wiped it on a cloth, licking at the still bleeding cut on his palm.
“Drink,” he said. The rest of his supplies finished tucking themselves in the boxes, his colors were once again black, and he shut the lids on two of them. Waiting till Jason finished the drink “If you ever do something that stupid again, I’ll make you deal with the consequences," he slammed the last lid down.
Jason flinched, turning his head away, lifting his chin.
Danny snarled, pointing a sharp claw at him. “Don’t you fucking submit to me, Jason. Use your fucking human brain to figure out why right now that’s a really shitty thing to do,” tears poured down his cheeks. His whole body was shaking, the need to be destructive on every front was assaulting his conscience.
Danny sat hunched over on his knees, facing the floor as his tears fell. His ears and tail were limp and Dick felt like he should be anywhere but where he was, at that moment. Especially as Jason held out his hand, not touching but in his line of sight.
And Danny just pushed himself back and crawled toward the wall opposite of them both, laying on his side away from them.
“Dick, please leave.” Danny choked on his sobs.
Jason nodded at Dick, and the man finally moved to his feet. He signed a few things, and after confirming that Jason would be safe, he left.
Jason was already feeling the effects of the antidote, but he knew any move to comfort Danny wouldn’t be accepted. And any move to leave would devastate him more.
Figuring the best course of action would be an open ended invitation, he curled up on his side facing Danny, and left the blanket open in front of him so Danny, when he chose to, would be able to curl up there like he normally did. After, he let exhaustion take him.
-
When he woke up it was light out, Danny was sleeping in the crook of his body, facing him. The fur on his arms were caked with flaking blood. Meaning he’d been biting himself to regulate. Jason frowned, moving his arm behind Danny and pulling him against his chest as he pressed kisses between his ears and refrained from nuzzling him.
He didn’t think any vaguely wolf related behaviors would go well for a while.
After all, he was the one who’d ignored what Danny said and got himself bit by another werewolf. And then had to ask his partner to make him not change into what Danny already was.
Jason didn’t need Danny’s words to know that he struggled with isolation, regardless of the fact he had friends and family, and they all loved him. Regardless that he had Jason, who loved him more than he could articulate who rarely left his side.
No, Danny was completely alone in his experiences for what he was. And because of the nature of how he became part wolf, any connections he tried to make in packs across the world were refused or made strictly transactional. Meaning he had no living werewolves to connect with.
He and Jason had gone to Ireland, he had to work out a trade for some items he’d been needing. Jason insisted he go with Danny to their village in the woods, promising he’d listen. Promised no matter how bad the violence sounded he wouldn’t step foot into the pack’s territory, an actual line Danny had drawn into the sand.
The sound of violence got to him and he’d run headfirst into where he promised he wouldn’t.
Danny had wanted him to deal with the consequences, and Jason fired every reason back for why he shouldn’t. And now he felt like a piece of shit for it.
And for all the reasons he had thrown back, Jason was now finding a reason to refute it for himself, and realized Danny could’ve, but didn’t. Danny made the antidote because Jason asked, not because he wanted to.
From what little time he’d spent around Danny while he practiced alchemy, Jason picked up a lot. The boiled liquid that he had frozen was unicorn saliva, and what Danny had used it for was to make sure none of his emotion was involved in the antidote. Because when a recipe involves essence, all essence given has to be given willingly, or at least rendered inert.
Jason was an ass for asking his partner to do that. He’d been selfish in all his delirium and he was actually regretting it now. Especially as he brushed his fingers carefully on the blood matted fur on Danny’s arms.
Danny kept quiet about a lot of the needs and wants that weren't human, and Jason had let him. Not that they would’ve made him uncomfortable, but because that seemed easier.
Easier for Jason. Not for Danny.
He wished his partner would’ve torn up his arms, instead of his own. He didn’t realize it till the tears were running down into his ears that he was crying.
He had to make this up to Danny, he had to make this right to the best of his ability for what he knew. Their one year anniversary was in two months, and now he had an excuse to go all out.
He moved his legs under himself, and picked Danny up in a bridal carry, blood flaked onto Jason’s t-shirt. The shirt itself was already disgusting from two and a half days of sweat, and the blood didn’t help anything.
He transferred Danny carefully to one arm as he sat on the edge of the tub and turned on the water, checking the temp to make sure it was just above being lukewarm.
Danny’s ears twitched, then swiveled around while he pretended to stay asleep. And Jason couldn’t blame him, with everything he hadn’t been willing to do, everything Danny had bottled up had exploded. It looked like he’d been gnawing on his arms for hours, given the amount of blood that was there regardless of his healing abilities.
He let Danny pretend while he held him, and he moved about the bathroom to grab a few things.
Jason spoke softly as he walked over to the tub. “I haven't been the best partner since I found out, and I’m sorry. That’s going to change, and I’m going to make it up to you.”
He pressed a kiss to Danny’s head before lowering him into the water, a towel behind his head.
Danny finally opened his eyes when Jason turned off the tap, his movements were methodic and gentle as he lifted Danny’s arm and used a wash cloth to start removing the blood.
He wanted to pull away, he knew Jason hated it when he hurt himself like that, but he let his partner wash him and let a whisper slip past his tongue. “I’m sorry.”
Jason froze, his brow pressed as he shook his head. “Please don’t apologize, Cub,” he let Danny’s arm fall back into the murky bloodied water. “This is my fault, not yours.”
“Jay, you’re not the one-”
“-No,” he cut him off. “I’m the one who’s been aware that you’re not getting your needs met and letting you suffer because it was easier for me.”
Danny didn’t say anything, just pinned his ears and picked at the fur on his arms, separating blood mats in the water.
“So starting today, we’re going to sit down and talk about what those needs and wants are. Okay?”
Danny’s shoulders tensed, and he didn’t move. Jason reached out and turned his face, cupping his cheek.
“Please, Danny?”
He nodded, and his ears weren’t pinned anymore, just droopy. Jason didn’t say anything, just picking Danny’s arm back up and returning to cleaning the blood.
-
February 2nd
Jason exited the bathroom after cleaning the rings of blood on the tub, he found Danny settled back in the nest with some snack foods and water bottles. Meaning once he sat down, there wasn’t getting back up till Danny let him.
So he grabbed his phone, turned it on silent and sat down next to Danny. It took a minute for him to start actually talking, but as he did, Jason felt like a dumbass and a horrible partner.
These things that should’ve been obvious, and would’ve been just shy of effortless to make Danny more comfortable, loved, and happy.
He wished Danny would’ve hit him for it. Maybe he could get one of his siblings to do it, just offer a free throw, most of them would jump on that.
By the end of it, it was early evening and Danny’s mood was higher than normal, and Jason was doing his best not to show his guilt and wallow.
Danny saw through it and in a bold move, crawled onto Jason’s crossed legs, curling his legs there and pressing himself against Jason’s chest. “It wasn’t necessarily okay what you did, but I wasn’t communicating either. I could’ve said something at any point. I’m not mad about it.”
“I care about you more than anything, Cub, and I should’ve done better. I will do better.”
Silent tears fell, and Danny lapped them up as he slid his arms around Jason’s neck, carefully scratching his head with his claws.
He was still aching from the werewolf bite on his ribs and the exhaustion from both the venom and antidote, and suggested they stay in, because if Danny shifted to his wolf form, he’d be stuck till the end of the full moon. Which wasn’t for another day or so.
Jason pointedly ignored his notifications as he shot a group text to the family.
-Still slightly under the weather, no patrol for me tonight. Dante’s keeping me company so don’t expect any saves-
He immediately got an incoming call from Dick. He sighed and silenced the call, tossing his phone to the other side of the nest.
Danny snaked out from his lap and settled on his haunches, answering the call with a smug look.
“Jason! Are you okay, is-”
“He’s fine,” Danny cut him off.
“Da… uh…”
“Dante is fine, Dick,” Danny said as he picked up the phone and moved back next to Jason. “As long as no one is around to hear you, that is.”
“Just me,” he replied. “How’s Jay? And… are you okay? I’m not in the loop at all but…”
“I am. Actually pretty good. And Jason’s well enough to throw his phone in attempt to ignore you so he doesn’t have to explain anything.”
“Oh… well, thank you for answering. I’ve been really worried.”
“That’s why I answered. And to ask that you give us till the moon wanes, but you will get an explanation. Jason was right that we need to at least explain a few things to you all. Last night made that clear. Especially if he ever gets seriously hurt in the field, someone will have to sedate me, most likely.” A light growl entered his voice.
“Uh…” He paused for several long beats. “Why?”
Jason snatched the phone from Danny and slid down against his pillow pile, patting his chest. Danny’s ears perked up, and his tail wagged as he circled around Jason’s other side and settled fully on top of him.
“It’s me,” Jason said on the phone.
Dick sighed, glad to hear his brother's voice. Steady and aware. “I’m glad you’re sounding better, Little Wing. Why does Dante say he’ll have to be sedated?”
Jason frowned, his fingers running up and down the fur on Danny’s back. His eyes were closed and he might already be asleep. Danny being able to rest there was one of those stupidly simple things they’d talked about.
“Dante’s dangerous, his instincts can overwhelm him when they have anything to do with his pack, or to a more serious extent, his partner.”
Dick took a minute to digest what Jason meant, and when he did his brother groaned. “Don’t tell me you started dating him because he killed the Joker,” Dick ground out.
Jason hummed the negative. “We’ve been dating for 10 months.”
“Oh… Did you know?”
“Not until the Joker incident.”
Jason could almost hear Dick trying to reorganize his brain. “Alright… I’ll give you the time you asked for. Speaking of… what did he mean when the moon wanes?”
“When the earth’s shadow first touches the moon and starts the next phase of the lunar cycle. Google can help you with that bit.”
“Got it, I’ll keep everyone off your back and say nothing if they ask. But I really would like some answers,” Dick stressed his words.
“You'll get them,” Jason said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a sleepy wolf to cuddle.”
He ended the call right then, and then threw the phone away again, scooting Danny up just enough he could kiss his ears.
-
February 3rd
For someone who hated cats, Danny sure slept like one. And had the same effect as one, because Jason refused to move and wake him. They’d gotten up the next morning, went about the day in Jason’s apartment, and settled down sometime before the sunset, with Danny curled on Jason’s chest again.
Jason had gone through his notifications and everything should be settling. Dick had asked if he could come over, and was permitted. He told him to bring his suit and they’d leave together for patrol.
Instead of knocking, Dick sent a text to Jason, letting him know he was at the door, asking if he could come in, he shot back his reply. The door opened, silent as all doors in any of his safe houses were.
Dick poked his head in before entering and shutting it behind him. He entered the living room, but didn’t dare get closer, his eyes on Danny’s sleeping form, curled up completely on Jason’s upper body.
“He’s out cold, just don’t touch the nest,” Jason whispered.
Dick stepped closer, setting down just outside the rise of the blankets. The nest as a whole covered half the living room, big enough for a large wolf. He hadn’t really understood why Danny was so pissed off about his nest when he’d found Jason days prior.
And again when he’d mentioned them needing to sedate him if Jason was injured. Until his brother told him they were dating, and then it clicked with a lot of things from before falling into clarity as well. Including the brutal killing of the Joker
Dick viewed the half-wolf more carefully, and realized that Danny was actively drooling on Jason. Every muscle limp and even his ears weren’t held up or twitching like canines did when they slept.
Jason held him to his chest and scooted back against the wall, sitting up slightly to look at his brother.
“He seems pretty dead to the world,” Dick snickered, watching his tail fall limp off of Jason’s lap.
Jason scoffed as he nodded, gesturing vaguely to his own head. “It takes a lot of mental focus for him to be a lucid human-ish person during the full moon. After everything that happened, I wouldn't have cared if he just let his puppy brain take over, but we had to do a lot of talking.”
Dick frowned, he wanted very badly to press. And he knew Jason wouldn’t give it to him any-
“-I fucked up, Dick,” Jason said. Interrupting his thoughts, proving him wrong. “I fucked up really bad, and Danny didn’t make me deal with the consequences even though it would’ve made him happier to have me do so.”
Dick stared aghast, moving to glare at Danny when a pillow hit him in the face at Mach 10.
“I wasn’t poisoned, Dick. I got bit.”
Jason waited to see if his brother would grasp it.
Dick paled when he did, Danny’s behavior becoming very appropriate. And especially when Jason had ‘submitted’ to him, and said it was a ‘shitty thing to do right then’.
The antidote wasn’t for a poison, it was to stop Jason from becoming a werewolf. And even though Danny would’ve loved for his partner to be like him, against what he’d wanted. He still helped Jason.
“And maybe the bite and the antidote wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d just told him he could come to me with his needs. Instead of ignoring the fact that I thought it would be easier if I didn’t have to deal with all of the things that came with everything he is,” Jason’s head fell back, his eyes blinking tears back as he stared at the ceiling.
“He didn’t say anything, and neither did I, and I’m beating myself up internally for it. He chewed up his arms that night while I was asleep, but I genuinely wish he would’ve done it to me rather than himself.”
Dick frowned, he couldn’t imagine Danny doing that. Or ever hurting Jason, actually. He seemed even more defensive of Dick’s brother than Dick himself.
“But he never would,” Jason confirmed. His eyes cast out the window as dusk started to settle. “We talked the last few days, and it’s better now. But I still feel so awful.”
Dick didn’t say anything for several minutes. “You’re all healed up right?”
Jason nodded.
“Then how about we go knock some heads around, hmm?”
Jason smirked, rolling his eyes. “There’s a black and green hearing aid looking thing in my desk drawer, go get that and get suited up.”
Dick did as he was told, he could hear fairly well Jason trying to get Danny to wake up, and by the time he’d come back down the hall, Danny was back to full size wolf and Jason was pinned completely under him
Jason had one of his ears between his teeth and was pulling, grunting as he spoke. “Et uh, ou asolouf menathe.”
Dick couldn’t help but laugh.
Jason glanced at him and let go of the wolf’s ear. “That’s for the ear opposite your com,” Jason said, eyeing the green-highlighted black metal in his hand. “That way you can understand him.”
Dick, curious, quickly settled the device in his ear and was greeted with… “Don’t make me get up,” Danny complained.
“I’m not making you do anything, but I need to get up.”
Danny rolled onto his back, still keeping Jason pinned. “Don’t leave me here by myself, I’ll get cold.”
Jason grunted under his weight, but since he was on his back, he had more leverage. Jason didn’t take advantage of it, only scratched at the wolf’s stomach.
Dick also had to mentally call humanoid-wolf Danny, and the actual wolf Dante. It felt weird otherwise.
“You love the cold. You take cold showers to relax,” Jason said, at least able to sit up slightly now. Dante didn’t move.
Jason glanced at Dick, and gave a look that said ‘watch this’.
“So… according to Mickey. Bradford showed his colors finally and brought him into their insurgence plot. What are your thoughts on scaring the fucking shit out of some traitorous members of my gang?”
Dante sprang to his feet and started nosing at Jason to shove him out of the nest toward his room, his tail wagging.
Jason disappeared down the hall, and Dante stretched before he stepped off the blankets and trotted into the kitchen, his head turned back to Dick and the translator buzzed in his ear.
“Can you come help me, opposable thumbs are needed,” his lips pulled back in some attempt at a smile. Even if they had the warning bells going off in Dick’s head.
He nodded and stepped closer to the wolf pulling the fridge open. “What do you need?”
“There’s a pitcher in there with what looks like lime lemonade,” He said, setting a paw on the counter to give himself some height and grabbing a large metal bowl off of it before moving back and setting the bowl on the floor.
Dick grabbed the pitcher and shut the fridge, Dante nosed the bowl closer, waiting. He poured it to the line marked on the bowl, once Dante nodded he replaced it in the fridge. “What is it?” He asked as Dante was quickly lapping up the contents.
“Pre-workout,” Dante said, his shoulders shaking as if he were laughing.
Dick stared at him, and Dante pretended to ignore him. Jason strode in and glanced at Dante, then to Dick, then Dante again. He was in full garb, white tuft covered with charcoal, but his helmet was set on the counter as he crouched next to the wolf and scratched at his scruff.
“How’s this batch?”
Dick didn’t hear anything, but apparently Jason did as he nodded and stood.
“Thank god, I don’t think I could handle having to babysit you to make sure you drink it. I don’t know how your sister did it for 3+ years. Let me know at the end of the night if it does as well as Wulf’s, yeah? I want to make sure I did it right, I’m no master alchemist, but I can cook worth my salt.”
Jason moved to grab a few protein bars from the cupboard, Dick watched Dante carefully step back, still drinking, but enough he could wrap his tail around where Jason’s feet were.
Jason smiled, but didn’t say anything otherwise. He handed Dick one of the protein bars, grabbed his helmet, and moved toward the living room ‘closet’ which he knew led to an auxiliary exit.
Dante picked up the bowl and put it in the sink and then walked through the closed closet door. “It’s not pre-workout,” Jason smirked, waving him over. “More like an energy drink with a lot of nutrients to help him replace the energy he uses shifting.”
Dick was still reeling about the door thing.
“Let’s go stop a coup,” Jason grinned.